Head of GM's Opel says talks with PSA on track - paper

VIENNA

VIENNA Dec 16 (Reuters) - Talks between General Motors'
Opel unit and France's PSA Peugeot Citroen on
joint vehicle development are on track, while there are no plans
at this stage to build cars together, Opel's interim chief
executive told a newspaper.

"The quality of the talks is really very good. And the
operational and technical advantages are so great that we will
surely will be able to wrap up soon the negotiations on joint
vehicle development," Thomas Sedran told WirtschaftsWoche.

The plan is to come up with four new model series by
2016/2017: a successor to the Opel Zafira family van, two
compact cars and a successor to the mid-sized Opel Insignia and
Citroen C5.

GM and Peugeot unveiled an initial alliance agreement in
February with the goal of saving at least $2 billion annually
within five years, evenly split between the partners.

GM paid 320 million euros ($419 million) for a 7 percent
stake in Peugeot as part of the original deal.

People close to the situation told Reuters last month that
the partners had halted talks on an even deeper tie-up amid
misgivings about the French carmaker's worsening finances and
government-backed bailout.

Opel aims to boost business in Russia and Turkey by
capitalising on its German brand, Sedran also told Germany's
Wirtschaftswoche.

It was working on a plan to boost Opel sales in China from
5,000 units a year now. "You can only be successful in China if
you produce there. Plants in Europe aren't much help."